Although forests are vulnerable to a variety of
natural stresses, including fire, drought, pests and disease, by far
the greatest threat to loss of forest cover in a rapidly urbanizing state
like Maryland is urban type of development. This includes development of
second or vacation homes in parts of the state not usually thought of as
highly urban.
Between 1997 and 2000, close to 37,000 acres of forest land were
developed, representing a loss of some 1.5% of the forests in Maryland in
1997. The greatest losses occurred in Western Maryland, as well as the
greatest loss of the large intact blocks of forest that are important to
the State’s green infrastructure network. Western Maryland lost more green
infrastructure forest than the rest of the regions of the State combined.

The indicator shows the spatial distribution among
watersheds of the losses that occurred during the evaluation period. If
losses at the 1997--2000 rate are extrapolated to 2020, it is estimated
that some 103,000 acres of green infrastructure forest will be lost during
the period. Serious steps to prevent this loss through local planning and
development initiatives would be necessary to change this anticipated
scenario, which exceeds losses projected by the Department of Planning
by some 28%.